Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Scorpions in a Bottle

Those of you who are not long-time readers of the Johnny Pez blog may be wondering: "What is this Scorpions in a Bottle of which you speak?

Basically, it's a project I embarked on some time ago to write a sequel to Robert Sobel's classic work of alternate history, For Want of a Nail ... Sobel wrote his book back in 1971, and the alternate timeline he created ends there. I felt that there was a crying need to extend Sobel's timeline to the early 21st century, so that's what I'm doing.

"But Johnny," you may be saying, "you can't write a continuation of someone else's work just like that. It's under copyright. You'd need permission from Sobel's estate." True. That's why I contacted Sobel's estate and secured their permission. I am fully authorized to write and publish a sequel, which I have tentatively decided to call Scorpions in a Bottle, which was Sobel's original title for his book. Having accomplished this, only two obstacles remain before me: actually writing it, and finding an actual publisher.

The writing is ongoing, and I've posted written sections of Scorpions in a Bottle on this blog. This particular post will serve as a sort of running tally of what bits I've written so far, and an outline of what remains to be done.

1. I won't be retconning Mexican history, but I will be filling in gaps in Sobel's account that will allow me, I hope, to make it more plausible.

2. Ah, Manitoba. I honestly don't know what to do there. It may come to retconning. At this point, I'm open to suggestions.

3. Welllllll ... as little as possible, frankly. FAN is its own thing, and I'd like to do something different. There are a lot of possible ways forward from Sobel's 1971, and I'd like to explore some that haven't been done before. (I've encountered at least two other continuations of Sobel besides FAN. I won't be borrowing from them, either.)